Time For Summer Hankie Scarves

So much of my work comes from feelings.  Even deciding what I will do next is often dictated by how I feel.  If I don’t feel something I can’t create it.

Last week I had a feeling it was time to make some more Vintage Hankie Scarves.  I knew I had a nice stash of hankies that many of you have been sending me over the past year or so.

So I went through my boxes, sorted the colorful hankies from the white ones with small embroideries  in the corner, ironed them and laid them out on my floor according to size.

Then I started matching them, figuring out which looked good together and sewing them.  I washed them in cold water, when I was done, and hung them on the line to dry.

I made five scarves from the hankies I had.  I still had more left, but not enough that worked well together to make another.

Then Ellen’s box came in the mail.

It was filled with hand crocheted doilies and lace.  These, Ellen told me, were made by her Aunt Alice who sewed all her own clothes including her coats and hats.  And she made trim for them too, some of which I now have.

I’m not sure how I’ll use the doilies and lace yet, but I took the hankies as a sign that I was on the right track making scarves.

The other sign I got was in the book I read this weekend, called Sipsworth by Simon Van Booy.

It’s the story of a woman, Helen, who befriends a mouse.  When she is young, Helen falls into a  dry well.  No one can find her until her mother gives the neighbor’s dog one of Helen’s  embroidered handkerchief’s with her scent on it.

Later in the book Helen “takes a small, floral handkerchief from her pocket” and puts it in the tank with her mouse so he won’t forget her.

I can’t remember if I’ve ever read a book where one of these hankies shows up.  And in Van Booy’s latest it’s one of those small details that speaks to Helen’s age and the emotional weight and stories,  these hankie’s can hold.

I love giving these hankies and their history, even if we don’t know the exact details, a new life.

Today I’ll go through Ellen’s hankies and see if I can piece together another scarf or two using them.  I’ll also make one more scarf  using blue hankies for Lorrie.  She saw them on the floor in my studio,  in the video Jon and I made last week.

I just posted the five Vintage Hankie Summer Scarves for sale in my Etsy Shop.  They are $65 each + $5 shipping.   You can see them all and buy them here.